Crown Valley Community Park gets a facelift

April 7, 2015

Updated April 9, 2015 5:16 p.m.

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A construction worker smooths out the fresh concrete in the steps leading to the new amphitheater at Crown Valley Community Park. The amphitheater is just one of the new features currently under construction at Crown Valley Community Park in Laguna Niguel. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Complicated plumbing is in place for the splash pad play area at Crown Valley Community Park. The “spray ground,” with 20 separate water features, has a closed-loop system with chlorinated water and will likely be open seasonally. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Chlorinated water supplied to the Splashpad play area in the background will be recirculated from water tanks seen in the foreground. Expected completion for the 'Sprayground' area at Crown Valley Community Park is in June. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A new outdoor amphitheater, complete with seating along with an expansive grass area is one of the new features currently under construction at Crown Valley Community Park in Laguna Niguel. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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An overall view of the new outdoor amphitheater, complete with seating along with an expansive grass area. The amphitheater is just one of the new features currently under construction at Crown Valley Community Park in Laguna Niguel. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Daniel Fox, assistant city manger for Laguna Niguel, with Construction Manager John Reidinger (Wallace and Assoc.), point out and describe the renovation progress in the outdoor amphitheater area at Crown Valley Community Park in Laguna Niguel. Renovation of the entire park is scheduled for completion in June. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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As part of the renovation project at Crown Valley Community Park, a new grand entry to the Botanical Garden is included which is situated just above the park. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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A new restroom building near the amphitheater and playgrounds has five stalls and two larger family rooms. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The park is adding two ADA-accessible playgrounds built to current safety standards with rubberized surfaces. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Ornate detail can be seen all around the renovation project at Crown Valley Community Park expected to be completed in June. NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A construction worker smooths out the fresh concrete in the steps leading to the new amphitheater at Crown Valley Community Park. The amphitheater is just one of the new features currently under construction at Crown Valley Community Park in Laguna Niguel.NICK KOON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

New community center building (with new meeting rooms, showers, lockers), offices for Parks and Recreation staff, festival plaza

One of Laguna Niguel’s oldest and largest parks is undergoing a transformation.

Crown Valley Community Park, with its outdated playground, wide grassy areas and trailer offices, has not seen a major renovation in the more than 30 years since its construction.

By this June, the aging park will have two brand-new playgrounds, a splash pad, amphitheater with seating and new bathrooms. The $4.5 million in new features are just the first in a three-tier process to revamp the park, with parking additions and community center renovations to follow.

“Adding a better park in our crown jewel, Crown Valley, is going to really enhance, I think, property values and attract young families, which is really what it takes to keep a community young and vibrant,” City Councilman Jerry Slusiewicz said.

The park, about 35 years old, was once a county park – predating even the incorporation of Laguna Niguel. It’s also the largest city park – a total of 74 acres – and sees about 240,000 visitors every year, according Pauline Colvin, the city’s communications officer.

“It’s starting to show a little bit of its age,” said Slusiewicz, who serves on the park’s ad hoc committee. “A lot of the features are kind of outdated…it’s kind of time for a makeover.”

Plans for a revamped park really began about three years ago. Former Mayor Linda Lindholm was a major proponent of the park who helped push the effort forward, according to city staff and council members.

The city conducted surveys of users and visited parks in neighboring cities, coming up with a park concept that will be built out through 2020.

Construction on the first tier started in October. It will be finished by late May or early June this year, said project manager John Reidinger.

Among the changes is an updated amphitheater. The amphitheater used to be a very informal, flat concrete area with a set of bleachers, Assistant City Manager Dan Fox said.

“It had been there for years and wasn’t very level,” said Mayor Pro Tem Laurie Davies, who also serves on the park’s ad hoc committee. “Now we have new elevated stage platforms, a large dance floor, a stage backdrop with a new stage lighting system. It’s upgraded so we can have more concerts and more plays.”

The new stage, already taking shape during construction on a bright Thursday morning, will have more formal seating in the first few rows, with artificial turf and new concrete benches. The upper levels will be natural grass, terraced to provide softer grading and more comfortable seating. The new amphitheater seats about 2,000 people, while the old stage held maybe half of that amount, Reidinger said.

At the north end of the park are two new ADA-accessible playgrounds built to current safety standards with rubberized surfaces, for 2- to 5-year-olds and for 5- to 12-year-olds. They will be fenced in to stop kids from running out into the nearby parking lot, and include a grand entrance with a mosaic of California designed by a local artist, Slusiewicz said.

“The great part of that is it’s going to feature multicolor and multisensory equipment, also age-appropriate activities for the children,” Davies said, adding that the playground equipment will work different muscle groups.

The playgrounds are wildlife-themed, featuring shrubbery in the shapes of animals.

Nearby will be an enclosed splash pad or “spray ground,” with 20 separate water features. In light of the drought and to protect users, the splash pad has a closed-loop system with chlorinated water – just like a pool, Fox said. It will likely be open seasonally, depending on weather and demand, he added.

“We anticipate this could be huge for the city,” Slusiewicz said. “We think families will love to bring their kids to the ‘spray ground,’ if you will, and play there.”

New bathrooms are a key addition to the park, so that visitors – especially during summer events at the amphitheater – don’t have to trek over to the pool locker rooms. Situated near the amphitheater and playgrounds, the five stalls also include two larger family changing bathrooms and are ADA-accessible.

As the community ages, the goal is to make sure it stays young and vibrant – not “stodgy,” Slusiewicz said.

“This whole tier one is designed to put a facelift on our community park and really be an attraction,” he said. When families come to the park for soccer tournaments, siblings can go check out the playgrounds and the splash pad. “Next thing you know, the family … may want to move here,” he added.

The Niguel Botanical Preserve is getting a new entrance as well, which will hopefully make it more accessible and increase traffic, Colvin said. While a mountain biking/hiking “goat trail” had been part of the plans in 2013, it has since been nixed in consideration of the noise nearby neighborhoods might receive, Slusiewicz said.

In tier two of construction, the city plans to improve the park’s main entry sign, build a new bridge over the creek, conduct habitat mitigation and restore the creek. The concept plans will go to the Parks & Recreation Commission on Monday, and the goal is to start construction in fall 2016. Currently the bridge crossing floods when there’s rain, so it will be changed into a culvert crossing (where water flows underneath the road), Fox said.

Two satellite parking lots may be added to help alleviate parking issues for those who specifically come in for the soccer and softball fields, and don’t need to access the upper levels. One lot is planned near the park entrance, just past a nearby softball field, and the other will be on the south side of the park, near the emergency access entrance.

In fall 2018, tier three is expected to roll out with a new community center building and a festival plaza for events. The city’s Parks and Recreation staff work out of trailers that have been at the park since its inception, and they would be moved into an actual building, Slusiewicz said. There will be new meeting rooms for youth sports meetings, better locker facilities and showers, he added. The community center building is separate from the building that holds the YMCA. The city leases the other building to the YMCA for its activities, and part of the park overhaul includes an emphasis on branding so that people know the pool and site are not the ‘YMCA park,’ Slusiewicz said. The building used by the YMCA is not part of the renovations, and the city pool was already replastered a few years ago, Fox said.

By 2020, all three tiers at the city’s “crown jewel” park are expected to be complete.

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